An InDepth Look: Pokémon
by Goldenrod Lockhart
Summary: What if Pokémon were made as an actual real life production instead of an anime? This story provides with in depth articles detailing the events that went on during the making of the show. Enjoy and let me know whatcha think!
1. The Beginning of Pokémon

**Pokémon: The In-Depth Behind the Scenes**

**Greetings. It's time for a new feature that's actually been in my head for some time now. It is a Pokémon story, as you can see by the title. Now, I've been watching the show ever since it's humble beginnings on UPN (now MY50 Television) in 1998 (I must thank my brother for generally introducing me to Anime). In 1999, the peak year of Pokémon, it was moved to KidsWB (Everybody Dubba Dubba!), where it reigned there for about 8 years. At one point, there an afternoon KidsWB lineup on WGN that had Pokémon shown at, like, 4 in the afternoon. Soon, Pokémon (along with KidsWB) was moved there for good (by then, I had stopped watching because I would still be asleep. Pokémon should have stayed on at 11:00AM like in the good ol' days). In 2007, everything went downhill. 4kids lost their license to Pokémon. PUSA gave Pokémon a new voice cast (and gave us the fake hope of them keeping the original score). Pokémon was taken off of KidsWB and moved to Cartoon Network (which is probably now "Live Action and Cartoon Network"). And now, in 2008, KidsWB is now CW 4kids, no one without cable can see Pokémon, and not only that, we have yet to have dual language DVDs. **

**Gee. I just don't know why I wanted to gave you Fanfiction readers the heads up on everyone's favorite franchise. Rest assured, I will still watch it (and boy, do I have some catching up to do!). What it all comes down to is that Pokémon still has a big fandom in America (if not as big as it was in 1999/2000.). The fandom has gotten so big, Fanfiction is being written. Just like what I'm doing right now.**

**We all know the Pokémon Animé are talented voice recordings played to a almost thousands of expertly painted cels put together and run at a very fast motion. But...what if it were made like an actual production of a Tv show? What you're about to read are real facts mixed up with "real" facts. I.e. things that could have went on "behind the scenes" of Pokémon. The idea for this was conceived when an idea of Pokémon Dvd commentaries came to mind. I then started to write a summary of the "things" that could have went on as an outline for when I did "Pokémon Commentaries". Then, another idea came to me: Why not just write down detailed articles of these "things" and do "Pokémon Commentaries" later (more like whenever I felt like it)? So, I do hope you sit back, relax, and enjoy. I would just like to say, however, that the events that are in this story did not necessarily happen. That's why I took what I knew and mixed them with stuff that didn't happen. Just wanted to make that clear.**

**Remember: I do not own Pokémon or any of the characters in it's franchise. Let's this disclaimer sink because I'm not going to say this every chapter. Whatever. Look, just read the-**

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In the beginning of Pokémon...

Pokemon. The phenomenon craze that swept it's way through Japan (there known as "Pocket Monsters"), and soon the US, caused a revolution in the video gaming community. In 1995, after about five years in the making, Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green were released in Japan. Instantly, a buzz was created and everyone across the pond were wearing down their Game Boy's Buttons (and perhaps their fingers) playing an elaborate RPG that was about a young boy who wanted to capture all 150 Pokémon in order to become a Pokémon master. You know the story. These games were so popular that there were advertisements of them on Tv. Friends recommended it to other friends. Soon, a Pokémon card game was released and a huge fandom was created. In mid-1996. this huge fandom sparked the attention of Tv Tokyo.

Now, some animé are based on manga. Some are based on video games. Well, this is what they had in mind when they approached the creator of the mega franchise, Satoshi Tajiri. Satoshi, who got the idea of the video game from his childhood memory of catching bugs, was interested and gave the go ahead. The producers then started work on the scripts. If one were to read one of the first draft scripts written for the first season of Pokémon, they would find that it would be much more mature then the episodes released. The producers were going for more darker situations, being that the show was planned to be aired during prime time hours. In these versions, There were to be more nastier arguments between Ash and Misty, Misty punching Ash instead of just slapping him and Pokémon actually dying. Team Rocket were originally a supremacist group that exterminated Pokémon. When Satoshi reviewed these scripts, he said that he felt Pokémon should be for more younger viewers. After that, the scripts were toned down to the episodes we know of today. Several other concepts were considered but were scrapped. All Pokémon were originally to converse in english with their trainers. When Satoshi said that talking Pokémon should be rare in that universe, they had the Pokémon make animal sounds and say their own names. While that idea was abandoned then, the concept was still used in later episodes. The scripts were soon finished and now the task of casting the characters were at hand.

Before they were Ash, Misty, and Brock, The main characters were recognized from other projects. Ash Ketchem was known as "The Little Juice Boy" when he starred in "Sweeteria Juice" commercials at the age of 5. At the age of 9, he was just getting out of a shower when he had gotten a phone call from the producers asking if he wanted to come in to audition for the part of "Pokemon Trainer". Ash was nervous at the audition but made it out just fine and with the now famous role of Ash Ketchem.

Brock Slater was a songwriter. His career started in 1989, Brock released several hits. In 1994, he released the mega hit "Gimme Dat Pop", which earned him a contract with Pepsi. He had also a pop named after his hit song. Brock was in the recording studio at the time when he was contacted for the part of "Rock Gym Leader". It was not before the filming of episode 5 but really at the start of production period. He joined the cast 2 weeks into filming.

Misty Waterflower was not in any productions prior Pokemon but had a dream to act. She saw the blurb of the "Watergirl" auditions in the newspaper and snatched up the chance. Her dreams came true when she got the part.

The two Team Rocket members were originally just one person and a Pokemon to aid them in their evil deeds. Satoshi, who was a fan of the singing duo of the same name, joked about them being the villains of the show and somehow, the word got out. Surprisingly, they received a message from the singers saying they would accept. They found the perfect talking Pokémon to go with Team Rocket. Novelty singer Meowth was famous for playing his guitar on street corners, fascinating onlookers as being on the first talking Pokémon. The names of the characters were sometimes that of the actor's and actresses' unless otherwise noted.

Once they had got together all of the shooting locations and the cast in place, it was time to start shooting!

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**Well, there you are. The birth of the Pokémon Anime. In the next chapter, we will cover the events during the filming of the first batch of episodes. I realize that the characters names are completely different in Japanese but I like I said, this didn't necessarily happen. I'd like to know what you think and any ideas you might have so please leave your reviews. 'Till the next!**


	2. Filming the First Batch

**Pokémon: The In-Depth Behind the Scenes**

**Welcome to the second chapter of this "informative" story. Today (or tonight or whatever), we shall cover what went on during the filming of the first season of the long running Anime. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's start!**

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Filming the first batch

November 28, 1996...

This was the day in which production officially started on the first season of Pokémon (though, there aren't really television seasons in Japan. They run a new episode each week for most of the shows there. Thus, reruns are scarce on Japanese airwaves). The cast and crew gathered at their first ever film site: The Masera Town Windmill, which is used as the exterior for Professor Oak's Laboratory (Permission is usually needed to use these towns for a film site. When they do, the names of the said town will sometimes be changed to fit that of the episode. Thus, Masera Town becoming Pallet Town). At about a little after 12, the filming of the first classic episode "Pokémon! I Choose You!" began with the scene in which Ash is just arriving at Professor Oak's Lab in his pajamas. He is then confronted by Gary Oak, Prof. Oak's grandson and Ash's life long rival. In real life, Ash and Gary are best friends. If one were to watch the bloopers on the Pokémon Indigo League, they'll find that they would tend to mess each other up by making faces and weird noises.

The exterior of Professor Oak's Lab is built as a set at the Shougoken Studios, as of the other sets such as Pokémon Centers, Ash's house, some parts of the gyms, etc. When they weren't filming on the sets, they were on location. Even before the first set of episodes aired, lots of fans knew of them filming the episodes and would try to travel from town to town to watch them film and get autographs. By Season Two, it would have become a tradition of sorts, much like following a music tour around.

Professor Oak is played by Sam Donaldman. Back in the 1960's, Sam travelled with his brother and a couple of friends in a comedy troupe. They were very popular to the point where the gig surprisingly lasted all the way into the 1980's. By then, a few movies were made and they had a big cult following around the world. In 1993, somewhat of a reunion was made when they met with each other at a convention in San Francisco. In 1995, the real reunion happened when they released another (and possibly the last) film in which they all die in hilarious ways. Every member in the group is alive today and there are rumors that another film may be in the works.

On the subject of rumors, one was already going around the set of Pokémon. This was the infamous rumor in which involved Pikachu, one of the stars of the show. There were two versions of the story: Version #1 being that they had another Pikachu before the one we all know and love. This Pikachu had supposedly died of a serious illness, causing them to replace it. Version #2 being that they had another Pikachu but this time, it was very unruly to the cast and crew (other sources say that the Pikachu acting unruly to Ash scenes actually happened in real life and were caught on tape) and had to be released and replaced. This rumor went all over the Internet during the following years until just recently when Ash said on the DVD commentary of this episode that Pikachu is not just a wild Pokémon but an Acting Pokémon. These are Pokémon who are trained to follow not only the trainer's commands but the Director's as well. The rumor also was started by Pikachu's different appearance in this episode. Pikachu is simply just younger and it's fur is primped differently.

The Pokémon provided in these episode are picked out by the Pokémon Humane Association. Just know that they are all acting Pokémon and that none are harmed during the production of these episode.

Even in the first episode, a bit of special effects were used. For the first of the many Pikachu electric shock scenes, the actors would put on rubber padding to which Pikachu would give the shock. This was the first and last time this method was used with the actors and stunt doubles would do it from now on. This decision came about when Prof. Oak, Ash, and several other people found burns on spots that weren't fully covered. While they weren't serious, it was understandable that they were afraid of getting their stars really hurt. For the scenes in which Misty propels Ash (the real one, not a stunt double, mind you) from the water with her fishing rod, wires were attached to Ash and then Misty was given a cue on when to pull. This same cue would let the wranglers know to pull the wires at the exact same time Misty pulls the rod. The first successful take is what you see in the episode. The Spearow attack was more complicated. While they were trained for this sequence, that did not stop the Pokémon from pecking people, even without being given a cue. Not to mention the fact that they tended to...drop messages from above. One outtake shows one of the Spearow doing just that on Ash in the middle of a take. The result was Ash laughing for nearly a whole minute.

When they finally wrapped up this episode, they moved on to the second, which was "Pokémon Emergency!". This episode dealt with Ash getting a nearly dead Pikachu to a Pokémon center. This meant going to another town. The residents of Viridian City (Actually Tokiwa City) had their excitements brewing when they spotted set builders putting up the exterior of that City's Pokémon center. Seeing as an actual TV show production has never filmed there before, they were really excited of this news and to meet the cast members. One resident even posted up a sign near their house that read "Pokémon crew, please stay forever!". Even the Mayor invited everyone up to his house for a feast after they wrapped up production.

Some of the scenes shot were Ash walking through the city and him meeting Officer Jenny (who, like Nurse Joy, only have one actress each to play them due to the identical looks. There are times when they get other actresses to play another version of them). They weren't going to stay in Viridian City for long seeing as the scenes there weren't many, much to the sadness of the residents (little did they know, they would return but more on that when the time comes). The last bit they shot was Officer Jenny riding Ash to the Pokémon Center. They would finish shooting in the Viridian Forest before they shot the interior scenes of the Pokémon Center. Even when the other crew went into the Forest, there was still one more thing to shoot in the city: Team Rocket's appearance.

When the now infamous Meowth shaped hot air balloon was seen floating through the air, residents were confused as to who was in it. When the balloon landed and the music stars-turned-actors-but-still-music stars stepped out of the said balloon, it was all the residents could to not rush them. It was apparent that they had a big following there in Viridian City.

Into the forest with the crew, they were just starting filming on the ending scenes of "Pokémon Emergency" and then go right on into "Ash Catches a Pokémon". This is the episode in which Caterpie first appears. The Caterpie used in this episode was very helpful in getting the job done. It was actually in a few other programs before this so it has already the experience in the field of acting. In the show, Misty has a fear of bugs. That's not too far from the actress' real dislikes. In an interview taken in 1996 on the set (which, among others, can be viewed on the DVD set), Misty said "I have a...a fear of bug Pokémon on the show. I have a fear of bug Pokémon in real life but not so much as the character I play. Actually, I think the Caterpie is really cute."

This is the second episode that includes the infamous "Misty slapping Ash" scene. In "Pokémon! I Choose You!", the first slap was the first take they used. However, it was different this episode. Nearly five takes had to be done because Ash or Misty kept laughing. The fifth take turned out great because Ash's cheek had the perfect redness from all the slaps. After the make-up team applied pancake to that said cheek, they did the scenes in which Team Rocket shows up. Several times, fans of the singing group would even run into shots just to talk to them. After making sure that fans could only watch from a distance, they resumed on the scenes in which Caterpie uses String Shot on Meowth. For this special effect, Meowth was put into a special cast which covered his whole body. The String was done lightly so that it was breathable.

Since they were still out in the forest, they also started on "Challenge of The Samurai". The Samurai was played by an extra who won a contest not too long ago. The actor had no experience what so ever in acting but after this episode, he was offered other parts in movies/Tv shows. For the Beedrill attack scene, there were only half the amount of what flies in the sky in the episode during filming. In post-production, they digitally copied the Beedrill in order to multiply the swarm. This was done so as to avoid confusion on the set. For when the Metapod evolves into the Butterfree, they got a Metapod that was close to evolving, as they did with Caterpie (when a Pokémon is about to evolve, their bodies start to twitch. In some cases, it's their ears or tails.). There was a discussion about if they should let Team Rocket hung in the paper cacoons or if stunt doubles should do it. With the insistence of Jeesie and after finding out that there were going to be close up shots, the real Team Rocket were hanging there "like Bananas" according to Jessie. She soon regretted it as she says, "We were hanging there in those dang hot paper machié cacoons for like nearly an hour. See, they were doing something else with the cameras and they didn't want us to mess them up. Since they were, like, built on us, you know, we would've had to have...torn them up just to get outta there." Needless to say, they got the shot they needed and Jessie got her revenge by putting a paper machié patty in one of the AD's sandwiches (in a playful manner of course).

Finally out of the forest, the cast and crew went back to the studios where they shot the interiors scenes of "Pokémon Emergency" and a few other episodes as well. The Multi-Pikachu featured in this episode were very excited to work in a Tv production. So excited, several people had to wear rubber in order to handle them. Some of these Pikachu even showed up again in "Pikachu's Goodbye". The rally cry that they chant was composed by Ash's Pikachu himself. To create the Pokémon Center's explosion, the special effects department built a miniature model of the Pokémon Center. It was then given to the Pyrotechnics where they used mini explosives to blow it up. In post, the CGI team matted that into a view of Tokiwa City, afterwhich enhancing the explosion with CG effects.

Finished with that, the cast and crew made their way to Nibi City (Pewter City) where the first Pokémon gym of the series was shown. With permission of course, set designers took an abandoned warehouse and transformed it into the Pewter City gym. The exterior is still up to this day just in case they might need it and it's also a good way to get tourists. The interior set was, according to Ash, "pretty darn expensive". That has something to do with the fact that a sliding floor was added, without the people's knowledge. This was Brock's first episode as the Pokémon gym leader-turned-aspiring Pokémon Breeder. While he didn't shoot anything during the first two weeks, Brock stuck around the set to see how they did things and how the process of filming went. On some occasions, Brock actually held the camera as they shot a scene. Brock admitted that on his first day, he was pretty nervous. That was, until he recognised a person there from another show he used to watch. That person, in the role of his dad, was Hunter 0's Roe Hartz (who played Tore, the cranky but kind mechanic).

For the scene in which Ash charges up Pikachu using the watermill, he was hoisted up to the top of it by a harness. At first, they were going to keep it on him as he paddled the wheel and then digitally paint it out but it was Ash who was brave enough to suggest they take it off. Says Ash "Some people have a phobia of heights but I'm actually the exact opposite. When I'm really high up in the air, I get a nice high out of it, like, I'm the king of the world! I don't know why people are afraid of heights. I really quite nice, provided you're safely in the harness, of course." The scene in which the Onix is getting soaked from the sprinklers did cause concern from some people when it aired. They needn't worry any longer because Onix was coated in a water repellent wax (If a person was to used this wax in a Pokémon battle, they would be immediately disqualified) and then directed to roar in pain. Misty said that this was her favorite episode to do because of the emotional battle that Ash goes through as she watches from the sidelines. She also said that it sort of reminded her of "The Karate Kid", one of her favorite movies.

Next, they went to a Moon Viewing Mountain which was dubbed Mt. Moon. This episode was the first to feature some stunt work. The Zubat attack was done by the brave actor who played Seymour but his and Misty's slide down the side of the mountain were done by stunt doubles, Misty's being longtime double Mira Kantatsu. A stunt Meowth was rigged into an inflatable body suit. The Staryu actually shot the water gun past Meowth and they pumped air into the suit to give the impression of Meowth being a water balloon. This was also the first episode in which it was shot almost entirely at night to give the full effect of the Moon Stone Ceremony. The giant Moon Stone and the others are just props made out of melted plastic and then hardened (Believe it or not, the giant Moon Stone was sold off on Ebay for just 40). Says Brock as they were filming a scene at nearly 10 at night "I'm kind of Nocturnal. It's just something about the atmosphere of the night that, provided you're in the right place, gives you a sense of calmness. The crickets chirping, the romantic full moon up there so you can make out under it." Brock ended the sentence in a chuckle. Team Rocket's favorite scene is when they were sliding down the side of Mt. Moon on the dolly carrying the Moon Stone. James even asked if they could do it again.

The filming of The Water Flowers of Cerulean City was very interesting in itself. Especially the climax. Not only was it a coincidence that Hanada city was the actress Misty's actual hometown but the scene with the hose in the water tank was even more interesting...and challenging. The special effects department and the stunt cordinators got together to make the scene work. The water tank was filled with water and then a giant suction hose was placed into it. Serious planning was made in order to pull this stunt off without hurting anyone. The final solution was to have the hose so that the Pokémon who were sucked in fall into a pool outside. The whirlpool effect was added in in Post. Said Ash in an interview "Boy, everybody's gettin' wet today!".

The next episode they covered was "The Path to the Pokémon League". Here, an old outdoor Pokémon stadium was revived and built into AJ's Gym. The person portraying AJ is the same person who had played The Samurai back in episode four. By this time, he had become some sort of a character actor. As an inside note, the scene in which Pikachu becomes entangled in the exercise ropes (or something to that extent) was actually an accident. Originally, the script called for Pikachu to have a hard time reaching the clasp. When the cameras started to roll, the elastic ropes were so tight, they caused Pikachu's little body to ball up. Everyone went from concerned to surprised when Meowth said that Pikachu said to keep rolling. That idea was fine so they did it again. What you see is the second take. The Gym used in the episode actually caused it to start running again. Talk about advertisement.

The crew travelled to a high school a little ways from Pewter and transformed it into Pokémon tech in order to film "The School of Hard Knocks". The thing was that school was still going on at the time and they weren't able to use it after hours. They had decided that a school full of students would work. The people that resided that school were excited at this as well. A few of them were actually picked up to be paid extras. The Pikachu Vs. The Treadmill scene is still a favorite among the fans, cast, and crew. Pikachu's kicking the machine came from it's habit of improvising at the right time. The script just said "Pikachu fights with the Treadmill.".

The episode "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village" started off the arc of Ash finding the starter Pokémon that players of the video has to choose from. The scenes with the bridge proved most difficult. When Brock fell off of the bridge, he actually did, no stunt actors involved. However, the crew started to wish they did when Brock failed to come up when they called "Cut". They were about to search for him when Brock popped out of the water. When asked if he was okay, he commented "Well, I couldn't hear you guys from under there.". Team Rocket had no stunt doubles used for them as well and they, too, fell into the water, this time making sure the director gave them a signal they were through with the shot.

The second episode in the "Starter Pokémon" arc, "Charmander-the Lost Pokémon", introduced (of course) Charmander. When Brock saw the scene in which he confronted Damian in the Pokémon Center restaurant during the dailies, he was surprised at the roughness that his character can sometimes exhibit. The scene in which Ash was about to fight Damian using their Pokémon was originally shot with them about to fight with their fists. When viewed in the dailies, they decided that it was too much like the first draft scripts of the first few episodes so they re-shot the scene, not to mention rewriting Nurse Joy's admonishing speech at the end. Damian was played by a cousin of one of the ADs on the show. During the production meetings, he was actually suggested for the part of AJ but they had already cast another actor for the part. When he had came in for audition, they instantly gave him his long awaited role.

"Here Comes the Squirtle Squad" debuts the water Pokémon in the final episode in the arc. Squirtle actually knew Pikachu from the training school that they went to. The forest fire scene caused a bit of concern from the Nature Committee because they had the impression that they were going to actually set fire to it. The crew was given the go ahead when they told the committee they it would be CGI. The Squirtle actually shoots their Water Gun at a blue tarp that was draped over the trees. Before Team Rocket handled the Ice Guns, they had to go to a firing range seeing as neither of them knew how to use one. James had said that after doing the episode, his shoulder hurt for a few days. Meanwhile, Jessie had said that she just loved the recoil of firing a big gun. Both of them had said that they were super heavy.

After filming about two and a half months worth of episodes, filming finally wrapped on February 21, 1997. It was officially time for Post-Production. During the filming of the episodes, some post work was done but the main brunt of it was saved for this time. The Editing the episode together, the CGI sequences, the ADR (Additional Dialogue Replacement. For when the production audio isn't good enough. Like the scene with the Vacuume in the water tank. The noise it made nearly drowned out the actors voices), the Sound Mixing, and the Music Scoring was done and then sent to Tv Tokyo. There is a reason that there are deleted scenes for every episode on the Dvd. Like every other show, the network cuts 2-3 minutes out for time (mainly for commercials).

On April 1st, 1997 at 6:30pm, viewers in Japan turned on their Tvs to see a remake of the opening animation that greeted them to their Pokémon games. That opening animation evolved into a full out Pokémon battle between Gengar and Nidorino. This let the viewers know that they were in for a beautiful relationship. They weren't the only ones watching. The cast and crew got together at the director's house and watched the 30 minute episode that nearly took a week to make. All of their hard work, all of the planning that went into the show was finally being viewed on the Television screen and it gave them a feeling of satisfaction. It was a very long but very fun journey.

This alone gave them and Tv Tokyo the confidence to put their hiking boots back on.

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**Well, there you are. The second chapter of a behind the scenes look of Pokémon. Please forgive me if the last four episodes seem sort of rushed, seeing as I had really wanted to finish this. You may not know this but this thing was a little bit over two weeks in progress. All the same, I had fun writting this. Seriously, don't you hate it when the network cut stuff out of shows just so they can get some stupid commercials in?! I'm not talking about Pokémon because I don't know how they really do it but the shows here in America. Not putting us down but don't they realize the hard work they do to make the shows?! At least put the stuff on DVD or something. I also have a problem with them not putting all network version episodes of show on DVD. Long story short, the Network Versions are very rare. But I digress. Please let me know what you think and if you want, send in ideas and I'll try to incorperate them in. Thanks for reading! 'Till the next! **


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